Mentor Assistance

Janelle Sandoval, Mentor Assistant

If you have questions or concerns about your mentorship or beginning a mentorship, please contact our Mentor Assistant.
Contact: Janelle Sandoval
800.545.6843 ext. 121

Futures for Children Regions and Coordinators
For a list of the areas covered by FFC and the Region Coordinators click here.
 

Albuquerque Community Foundation

Scholarship & Financial Aid Programs

Albuquerque Community Foundation has a number of scholarship and financial aid programs.

ALL INFORMATION ON PROGRAMS AND APPLICATIONS is available on their website in the Student Aid Program section.

There are programs for students who engage in community service, for youth, in foster care, and students living in mobile homes, for Native Americans involved in varsity sports and a financial aid program for those receiving Federal Financial Aid – but not enough to cover their expenses. We also have links to many other resources that could enable students to continue their education.

Albuquerque Community Foundation

 

Please Join us in fulfilling Our Mission

College Horizons

Futures for Children Sophomores and Juniors

College Horizons is a five-day “Pre-College Workshop” geared specifically for American Indian students. This remarkable program is held twice annually on college campuses around the nation. Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher to apply (academic transcript required). Please read application requirements carefully.

If you are accepted by College Horizons, Futures for Children will pay for 15 scholarships (round trip airfare and program fees). All enrolled Futures for Children Friendship and Youth Leadership students who qualify with College Horizons are eligible for the scholarship.

College Horizons
 

Gates Millennium Scholarship

Outstanding Students Recognized for Leadership, Academic Achievement, and Service

The goal of GMS is to provide an opportunity for thousands of outstanding students with significant financial need to reach their fullest potential by completing an undergraduate college education in any discipline of interest. Continuing Gates Scholars may request funding for a graduate degree program in one of the following discipline areas: computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, or science.

Gates Millennium Scholarship
 

Sources of Financial Aid - American Indian Students

Indian Resource Development at New Mexico State University publishes the “Sources of Financial Aid Available to American Indian Students” booklet. This booklet provides up-to-date information on financial aid and internship opportunities for Native American students.

Financial Aid
 

TradeUp New Mexico

Training & Careers

If you are considering beginining a career in the buidling trade, TradeUp New Mexico can help you; they help you build a career. They assist in choosing a professional path, completing an apprenticeship, and beginning your career.

For additional information, visit TradeUp New Mexico.
 

Allocation of Funds:

The total annual cost to mentor a Futures' student is $360.

Your mentorship contribution goes towards your mentored student receiving a backpack, school supplies, or comparable educationally focused products. It also provides program support to the student and his or her family and allows our Regional Coordinators to make school visits, train community volunteers, coordinate student/parent workshops and meetings, and travel to the remote locations that Futures serves.
 

QuestBridge National College Match Program

The QuestBridge National College Match Program offers an opportunity for outstanding low-income students.

The National College Match Program connects high-achieving low-income students with admission and full scholarships to 29 partner colleges. Approximately 1,000 QuestBridge applicants enroll at these colleges every year, with financial aid worth over $100 million.
Application is due September 30, 2010!

QuestBridge National College Match Program
 

Six Flags Friends Scholarships

DoSomething.org has teamed up with Six Flags Friends to award college scholarships

DoSomething.org has teamed up with Six Flags Friends to award college scholarships to young leaders who are taking action to make their community a better place. Scholarships will be awarded based on past, current and planned action in the community as well as the applicant’s passion, commitment and proven leadership skills.
Hurry, deadline is April 30, 2010

For additional information, visit Six Flags Friends Scholarships.
 

Young Native Writers Essay Contest

The National Museum of the American Indian, in partnership with the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation

The National Museum of the American Indian, in partnership with the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation, is pleased to announce a call for entries for the annual Young Native Writers Essay Contest. Five selected essayists, and the teachers that inspired their participation, will win an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. in July 2010 and a $2,500 scholarship.
Hurry, the deadline is May 10, 2010.

Young Native Writers Essay Contest
 

QuestBridge College Prep Scholarship

For High School Juniors

The College Prep Scholarship provides more than 1,000 awards that equip outstanding low-income high school juniors with the knowledge necessary to compete for admission to top-ranked colleges.
Hurry, the deadline is 03/29/10!

QuestBridge College Prep Scholarship
 

College Horizons

Futures for Children Sophomores and Juniors

College Horizons is a five-day “Pre-College Workshop” geared specifically for American Indian students. This remarkable program is held twice annually on college campuses around the nation. Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher to apply (academic transcript required). Please read application requirements carefully.

If you apply and are accepted by College Horizons, Futures for Children will pay for 15 scholarships (round trip airfare and program fees). All enrolled Futures for Children Friendship and Youth Leadership students who qualify with College Horizons are eligible for the scholarship.

College Horizons
 

Patty Iron Cloud Program

Association of American Indian Physicians

Through its cooperative agreement with the Office of Minority Health, the Patty Iron Cloud National Native American Youth Initiative is an intense academic enrichment, and reinforcement, program designed to better prepare American Indian / Alaska Native (AI/AN) high school students to remain in the academic pipeline and pursue a career in the health professions and/or biomedical research.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: APRIL 16, 2010

Patty Iron Cloud Program
 

Dream Catcher Science Program

Sandia National Laboratories

The Dream Catcher Science Program is a hands-on science and engineering program designed for American Indian middle-school and high-school students in grades 6 through 12 who are interested in science, math, and engineering. There is no cost to attend the program and parents are invited to attend workshops with their student(s).
Hurry, program starts 6/5/10.

Dream Catcher Science Program
 

Morris K. Udall Native American Congressional Internships

Washington D.C.

The Native American Congressional Internship Program provides college Juniors and Seniors with an insider's view of the federal government. The ten-week internship in Washington, D.C., places students in Senate and House offices, committees, Cabinet departments and the White House, where they are able to observe government decision-making processes first-hand. In 2007, the Foundation expects to award 12 Internships on the basis of merit to Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

Morris K. Udall Native American Congressional Internships
 

Young Scholars Program

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

The Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars Program offers one of the most personalized scholarship programs for high-achieving students in the nation. The Foundation’s Young Scholars Program is designed to nurture exceptional students who have demonstrated, through academic excellence and extracurricular activities, that they have the potential to excel. Students apply for the program in 7th grade, enter the program in 8th grade, and continue through high school. Each Young Scholar receives a unique combination of opportunities that may include:
• Guidance in selecting a high school and, if necessary, support in applying to a private or magnet high school.
• Summer academic or enrichment programs.
• Computers, software, or other learning technology.
• Specialized support in music, art, science, math, or other subjects.
• Connection with a nationwide community of Young Scholars.
• Resources for career exploration and mentorship.
• College advising and counseling.

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
 

Helpful Tips

• Letter writing is the first form of communication; email and phone calls are optional, if available. Few students have access to personal email or cell phones.

• Rather than sending a few, lengthy letters, which can be overwhelming, send frequent, short letters.

• To really engage your student in communicating with you and in building your relationship, be sure to ask all the ‘W’ questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why?

• Do you want more photos of your student? Send him/her a disposable camera with a return envelope.

• Share a map or pictures of the area where you live and ask for the same from your student; it is very helpful to get an idea where each of you live.

• If your student is from a New Mexico Pueblo tribe they celebrate an annual Feast Day; find out the date on our Event Calendar. Many visitors attend and it is a great opportunity to meet your student, his/her family, and experience their culture.

Also, bear in mind…

• Futures cannot guarantee delivery of any time-sensitive gifts/packages from the Futures’ office to the community volunteer or student. Deliveries can only be made when Regional Coordinators are traveling to the community for other FFC business.

• Please introduce FFC to your family and friends, over 40% of our new mentors come from referrals by our current mentors.



 

A Legacy Of Mentoring

Jan Reed ~ Karina Roessel ~ Dru Dale Winney

“A commitment to education, friendship, support, and guidance everyday.” That’s the legacy that Karina Roessel’s mentor, Jan Reed, past principal at Chinle Elementary School, passed on to her. Ms. Reed’s reputation for encouraging excellence in all things is legendary, even today. Her mentoring and life-long friendship with Karina is a true legacy.

Along with Karina’s mother, her uncle, Raymond Nakai, and her mentor, Jan Reed, Karina was surrounded by a caring circle of love, inspiration, and support. Their cumuliative message to Karina was to “remain focused, be excellent in all you do and you will have a great future.”

Karina followed in her mentor’s footsteps. She attended the University of Northern Colorado Teacher’s College where she received a Special Education/Elementary degree. Later, she attained her Masters degree from Northern Arizona University.

She first taught special education in Ganado, AZ on the Navajo Nation. When a position opened for Dean of Students at Chinle Elementary, Karina applied and was given the job. The opportunity brought Karina full circle back to her mentor, Jan Reed.

Today, many years later, Karina Roessel is principal of Round Rock Elementary-Junior High School in Round Rock AZ. She is studying for her doctorate of education at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ.

Today, Karina is mentor to Dru Dale Winney, a sixth grade Navajo student with a 4.0 grade point average.

The legacy continues.

 

Why Futures for Children?

• 98% of Futures' students graduate high school.
• More than 54% of Futures' students pursue college or other post-secondary education.
• Futures' graduates continue with post-secondary studies at twice the national rate of Native American students.
• More than 180 volunteers work in 61 American Indian communities across New Mexico and Arizona.
 

Why Now?

• The dropout rate for American Indians is a bleak 52%.1
• American Indians have the lowest number of students of any ethnic group attending degree granting institutions.2
• American Indians suffer a poverty rate of 24.2% versus the national average of 13.2%. 3, 4
• Approximately 90,000 Native families are homeless or under-housed.5

1 Education & Research Data Center, 2007-08 3 InfoPlease.com from the U.S. Census Bureau
2 National Center for Education & Statistics 4 http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty
5 ConsciousAlliance.org from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, 2002



 

Student Responsibilities

Students are selected for mentorship with the expectation to:

Communicate
With their mentors at least every other month (six times a year) and acknowledge all mentor gifts.

Complete
Fall progress reports during each school year.

Maintain
A C average, or the equivalent, as well as maintain good school attendance.

Demonstrate
Good behavior at school and in their community.


 

Mentor Commitment

Commit to Changing a Child's Future and Change Both of Your Lives

Futures for Children believes academic success is achieved one child at a time. Over the past forty years, Futures has woven an ever-expanding tapestry of more than 20,000 American Indian students and their families through mentorship and training programs designed to encourage and inspire kids to stay in school. We begin with a single, beautiful thread—a Native American child.

The loom for this strong and richly textured fabric is fashioned with the commitment of time, skills, and money from thousands of mentors, donors, community volunteers, family members, and Futures' staff. More than ever, time is critical for the youngest generation of our nation’s Native American population.
 

Mentorship Support helps ensure:

• Coordination of an extensive Update (Verification) Process to provide mentors with current information about their
students.

• Extensive weekly travel for the Regional Coordinator to Futures Friendship sites in New Mexico and Arizona.

• Regional Coordinator home visits with students and families that nurture relationships between students and mentors when necessary.

• Regional Coordinator and Mentor Assistant support and follow up via phone, email, and regular mail regarding any mentor questions or concerns.

• Periodic Futures-initiated follow up with current mentors and students to gain awareness of the status of mentorships.

• Periodic Regional Coordinator community and school meetings with students, families, and community members to address questions and concerns about the Friendship/ Mentorship Program.

• Ongoing Regional Coordinator training and support to more than 120 Friendship Volunteers in school and community settings to maximize access and benefits to Friendship students.

• Periodic Regional Coordinator meetings with various community leaders, principals, teachers, and other school officials to promote positive community awareness and maximize access to the Friendship program.
 

Programs at a Glance

Navigating life in two worlds: A bridge to success.

Futures for Children's Programs

Friendship / Mentorship
The Friendship / Mentorship Program matches American Indian children with mentors outside of their reservations—adults who listen, coach, and care. Through letters, email, phone conversations, and visits, our mentors encourage their students to complete high school and pursue a post-secondary education. The relationships created through the Friendship Program are integral to positively affecting and improving children’s lives.

Youth Leadership
The Youth Leadership Program inspires students to become critical thinkers, role models, and leaders in their communities. Students meet the challenges of planning and implementing community service projects designed to enhance life skills and self-confidence.

Families in Action
This program is designed to encourage parents and guardians to create a positive, encouraging home environment that promotes academic success and healthy relationships. Families in Action allows parents to identify obstacles, then build resources and find solutions that support their children’s educational achievement.